Finding her Place
by StanaTorv
Summary: Missing scene at the end of AOT...Spoilers! Added onto the Vala/Tomin talk. No longer a oneshot Continued with stories from Vala's past. How will she find her place now? ON HIATUS!
1. Finalities

Missing scene at the end of 'The Ark of Truth' The Vala/Tomin scene. Borrowed some dialogue at the beginning. DV fic. No longer a oneshot. AOT spoilers.

**Finding her Place**

**By Samvalasam**

Tomin looked at Vala sorrowfully, "I haven't asked for I fear I know the answer. But, now that I'm leaving..." he left his statement open.

"I don't know exactly where my place is," she replied, "but, I hope that it's here." Vala paused for a second time, looking at Tomin with welling tears, "I'm sorry."

"I know I'll never make up for the things I have done. But I promise you, I'll spend the rest of my life trying." She scooted over closer to him and placed her legs over his lap and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck.

"So will I," Vala kissed him lightly on the cheek and laid her head on his shoulder. Tomin sighed lightly, contemplating his next thought.

"Vala?"

"Hmm…"

"I-I," he paused momentarily, "I release you from our wedding vows."

Vala jerked her head up and scratched it in wonderment, "Why? I mean, not that I'm complaining, but why the sudden change of heart?"

He smiled at her softly, "Because I can see yours has been captured by another, it has been for some time. I just have only come to realize it."

"I don't understand." Vala shook her head at his statement.

"Do you not see it Vala?" Tomin responded, trying to draw her out.

"See what?"

"That you're in love with him."

She was still confused, "Who?"

Tomin just rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, then responded, "Daniel Jackson."

It slowly dawned on Vala, "Oh, him," she responded softly. "Yes, I can see how you would believe that."

"So it's true then?"

Vala nodded her head slowly, "I suppose it is, but it doesn't mean that he feels the same way. Why would he? He just thinks I'm annoying and too much hard work."

"No, he's just afraid that if he lets himself feel, he will feel too much and it would kill him if he had to let you go. Just as it is for me." Tomin wiped a small tear that had escaped from Vala's eye away, "Just talk to him Vala, make him see…make him feel," he added quietly.

She only nodded in response.

"I must go now, but promise me you will keep safe." Tomin stood up to leave and headed towards the door. He didn't hear the whispered response of "Always" escape the lips of his now ex-wife as he left.

* * *

Vala didn't know how long she sat there on the bed, on the edge of tears in a slight trance. She was startled the sound of the door being opened.

"Vala?" she heard the familiar voice call, "Are you ok?"

She turned her head towards the door and the voice. "Huh?"

Daniel took that as a sign to enter the room and sit beside her on the bed, letting the door close behind him. "I asked if you were ok, Tomin left a couple hours ago and no one's been able to find you."

Vala brought her knees up to her chest and placed her chin on them. "I'm ok, just processing, that's all."

"Are you sure? I mean the last couple days have been pretty hectic."

"I'm fine, don't you worry your pretty little head about me, I'll be ok." She said with a slight smirk as she patted his cheek lightly.

"Well if you want to talk, I'm there for you, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, thanks."

Daniel got up from next to Vala, just as Tomin had a few hours earlier and made his way over to the door. Just as he was about to leave, Vala called out to him,

"Oh by the way Daniel, I have officially become a seven-time divorcee."

Daniel hesitated before turning his head around to look at Vala. He smiled and said, "Elizabeth Taylor should make _you_ queen."

TBC


	2. Not that Queen

AN: Without further adue I give you the second chapter. Sorry it's been so long in updating, being in Fiji for 3 months with no elecricity doesn't help matters much. thanks for Becca for the much apreciated beta

**Chapter 2: Not that Queen**

It had been a week since Tomin had left the SGC and one week since Daniel and Vala's little chat. As usual, Daniel was working in his office going through a bunch of translations from a previous mission when Vala came rushing through the door and jumped up on his desk, planting her butt on the books he was working on.

"I still don't get it Daniel," she exclaimed, "Muscles couldn't even explain it to me.

Daniel sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "What don't you get?"

As if to say 'duh', Vala replied while gesticulating wildly, "Why would Elizabeth Taylor make me Queen? Not that I'm opposed to being a queen and all, but England is sooo far away from everything darling."

He had to laugh at her, "We had that conversation a week ago, Vala."

"I know, and it's still confusing me," she sighed.

"I can see that. How about I explain it all to you…" that was all Vala had to hear. She excitedly jumped off the desk, threw her arms around Daniel and kissed his cheek.

"Meet me at my quarters after dinner, thank you darling," she left as quickly as she entered.

Daniel ran his fingers through his hair and groaned…tomorrow," he mumbled finally finishing his sentence to an empty room.

&

It was around 1900 hours by the time Daniel grudgingly made his way to Vala's quarters, which were down the hall from his. He hadn't planned to make good on his presumed presence at Vala's quarters tonight. He had intended to postpone it to the next night, but seeing her face light up like a child's at Christmas at the prospect of him explaining what he meant, made Daniel quickly change his mind. Daniel loved seeing Vala smile. It was a smile unlike any others; filled with mischief and wonder, excitement and mirth; it made his heart dance. Daniel hadn't felt that way since Sha're. In some ways he was scared out of his mind, but in others he was happy and content and for the first time since Sha're's death, he was finally at peace and allowing someone into his heart and was ever-increasingly falling in love with the former space pirate. Daniel's nervousness increased dramatically as he knocked on Vala's door.

"Come in," came the muffled reply from inside.

As Daniel opened the door, the unmistakeable scent of vanilla and strawberries wafted up his nose. Boy, did he love that smell or what? It was distinctly Vala, who was at that present time no where in plain sight. Daniel heard her call out again, "I'm just in the bathroom, and I'll be out in a minute. Just make yourself at home."

Looking around nervously, Daniel found a chair by her dresser on the far side of the room and sat down. Not two minutes later, Vala emerged from the bathroom tying her hair up in a messy pony tail while in a pair of black sweats that had "Juicy" written on the backside and a white t-shirt that had "Yummy" splashed across her breasts. Pink bunny slippers adorned her feet. Daniel could only stare at her appearance and said to her jokingly while pointing at his fitted black tee and jeans, "Somehow I feel a little overdressed."

Vala laughed, "Sorry about that, but after the training session I just had with Muscles, the last thing I want to do is to try and squeeze my butt into a pair of jeans."

A smile appeared on Daniel's face, "It's ok, it doesn't bother me at all. I was merely stating…"

"The obvious?" Vala interrupted and flashed him a grin, "yes darling, I know. It is what you do best."

Daniel chuckled and replied, "You've been spending way too much time with Jack."

"No not really, Daniel. Siler and Walter call you Captain Obvious so it has been spread quite far."

"Good to know," he replied responded shaking his head.

Flopping herself on her bed, Vala lay on her stomach facing Daniel. "Enough about you, what about me? What did you mean when you said Elizabeth Taylor should make me Queen?"

Having thought about his answer the whole day, Daniel started on his explanation, "Elizabeth Taylor is an actress whose most recognisable movie is _"Cleopatra."_ The thing is with her that she likes all her jewels and does things just for her. The fact she has been married like six times to five different men doesn't help her cause much. In my opinion she's a tad vain and shallow. So the reason I said that was because she played a queen, you were a queen and you've both been married heaps of times."

At the end of his speech, Daniel looked at Vala who was just staring at him, this made Daniel a might twitchy yet again.

"Vala, say something," he urged, moving slowly to her silent form.

Tears started to form in her eyes and quickly fell before she had a chance to wipe them away. Daniel saw this and started to pick up his pace, crossing the room in a few long strides and inching forward to where Vala had sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. Trying to put an arm around her shoulders, Daniel was surprised to see her pull away from his embrace.

"What's the matter, Vala?" Daniel asked softly.

Regaining her composure for a moment, Vala replied, "I'm not shallow or vain, Daniel. There were perfectly legitimate reasons as to why I got married all those times." Horrified, Daniel tried to reason with her, "I never called you those things. I was merely stating my opinion about Elizabeth Taylor."

"You implied it, and that's what hurts."

"No, I didn't. You know me well enough to know that I have the utmost respect for you and I have no doubt that what you did was to ensure your survival for all those years."

Seeing her demeanour soften, Daniel saw the chance to once again draw her close to him. After a moment of silence, Vala asked, "If you didn't mean it, why did you say it in the first place?"

Sighing, he answered, "So you could tell that I wasn't comparing the two of you literally. It was only meant as a joke."

"Oh, well then I'm sorry if I overreacted, it's a bit of a sore spot for me still."

Placing a kiss on top of her head, Daniel rubbed circles over her back, "Tell me about it, Vala. I want to know about all seven of your husbands," he paused, "I want to know about _you_."

She lifted her head and looked at him squarely in the eyes, "Why?"

"Because knowing why you married them will let me see the inside of your whole persona."

Vala cocked her head to one side and smirked, "Why?"

Giving her a pointed look, Daniel sighed again, "I guess it's because the more I know about you, the more I understand how I…" he paused again.

"How you…?" Vala prompted as Daniel smiled and took off his glasses and put them on the nearby nightstand, and continued, "How I fell in love with a smart, sexy and sly space pirate."

Grinning, Vala tilted her head towards him and gave him a light kiss to his lips. "Well when you put it that way, how could a girl refuse?"

Smiling at her answer, Daniel leant down and kissed her back a little more passionately than he had intended. When they parted Daniel suggested, "How about we give that date another shot tomorrow night and then you can tell me the tale of your first husband afterwards?"

"Ha, I knew it was a date," she paused momentarily, "You know that means this will be our second date, which is good cause you should know I never put out on the first."

Daniel blushed at her blatant innuendo as Vala laughed at his embarrassment. Seeing as this was his opportunity to leave he stuttered, "I better go, I'll pick you up here at 1830 tomorrow night."

Stepping out into the corridor, Daniel breathed a sigh of relief as he turned to face Vala who was standing in her doorway.

"Goodnight, Daniel."

"Night," he gave her a small wave and started off down the hallway, barely getting 10 metres when Vala called out his name. He looked back at her to see what she wanted. Being careful not to draw attention to them, she called out, "I love you too, you know," and quickly shut her door after her hasty confession.

At hearing Vala's statement, Daniel's heart skipped a beat, reassuring himself that everything would work out just fine.

TBC...soon


	3. One Husband, Two Dates

Chapter 3: One husband, two dates

_A/N: I'm concentrating on the story of Vala's husbands instead of focusing on Daniel and Vala and the whole 'date' thing, cos this is what this fic is about really. There will be interim chapters that have no tale in them and I will expand on our two hero's love life a little more. _

**Chapter 3: One husband, two dates**

The time came for the long awaited "second date" and Vala could hardly contain her excitement as Daniel arrived to pick her up at her quarters. She had spent and hour and a half preparing herself and getting ready so that she would make a good impression on Daniel. Daniel, on the other hand, was scared out of his mind wondering how the hell everything had happened so fast.

The second date, unlike the first went by very quietly and Vala finally got her passionfruit daiquiri, as well as a strawberry one, much to Daniel's chagrin.

After the cheque was paid, Daniel took Vala out for ice-cream before driving back to his apartment to settle in for the night. As they both got comfortable on the couch, Vala spoke quietly, "Is this the part of the evening where I tell you a bed-time story, darling?"

"Something like that," Daniel smiled at her innuendo and took her hand in his, "but I can't force you if you don't want to."

Vala let out a small breath, "I want to. It's about time that I finally faced my past so that I can move forward with my future."

Placing a light kiss to her forehead, Daniel said, "Start when you're ready."

Vala waited a few minutes before taking a deep breath and started to speak. "I'll start with my first husband, his name was Tyran. I grew up with him as a child; we were best friends. On my planet, girls were married off at sixteen to rich old men and some lucky few were able to choose, depending on how much money they did or didn't have." Vala paused as tears started to fall down her cheeks. Daniel got up off the couch and grabbed a box of tissues from the kitchen bench and handed them to her.

"Thank you," she sniffed as she dried her eyes, "As I was saying, only a few of us got to choose who to marry and I desperately wanted to be one of those. I went to my step-mother a couple days before I turned sixteen to ask if I could decide who I should marry…"

--

"Please! I don't want to marry Markan. He's old and gross!"

"Then who, Vala, who isn't old, or…gross as you put it?" Adria asked of her step-daughter.

Vala paused to think, "I don't know," she replied quietly.

"Then you will marry him in two weeks as it has been already arranged."

"But Adria, I don't want to! Let me find someone," Vala pleaded, ready to beg on her knees if she had to.

Adria thought for a moment, "Fine, you have until your sixteenth birthday. If you haven't found anyone by then you will marry Markan."

Vala gasped, "That's in three days! How am I supposed to find someone by then?"

"That is not my problem, Vala. Three days or two weeks; you decide," Adria replied calmly with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Fine!" with that Vala stormed out of the house, determination written across her face.

--

"For two whole days I hid out in caves that surrounded our village. Tyran and I used to play there as children - only he could ever find me in there…"

--

"Vala! Vala, are you in there?" Tyran called from the entrance of the cave.

"Go away Tyran! I want to be left alone," came the reply from not too far down.

With a lit torch Tyran walked into the cave finding Vala sitting cross-legged against the wall with a tear-stained face. Crouching down beside her, he pulled her into a hug, placing the torch nearby.

"Your mother told me what happened when I went to see you this morning," Tyran spoke to her softly.

Vala mumbled a reply into his chest, "That witch is _not_ my mother. Who would want to marry me of their own accord anyway?"

Tyran lifted her face up to meet his, "Me. I would like to marry you."

Surprised, Vala pulled away from her protector, "You? Why?"

"We're best friends Vala, we've grown up together. I know you better than yourself. Why shouldn't we get married?"

"People should only get married when they're in love, not because they have to."

"Who says I'm not in love? Vala I wouldn't be suggesting this if I didn't think we had a chance."

Vala heaved a heavy sigh and reluctantly nodded her head, "Okay, I suppose you're better than the alternative."

Tyran grinned, "So that's a yes?"

Nodding again, Vala replied, "That's a yes."

Leaning in and kissing her softly, Tyran said, "I love you Vala, and I'll never stop."

--

"Tyran was the first person to tell me that they loved me. He was also only one of two men that I've meant it when I've said it back."

Daniel looked at Vala with pure love in his eyes, "I had no idea you went through that."

Vala smiled softly back at him, "It's not over yet." She continued, "Tyran was two years older than me, we were practically inseparable growing up. He was more like my brother than anything else. Two weeks after his proposal in the cave, we were married. He knew I was still uncomfortable with the whole arrangement so he never forced me to do anything until I was ready. We waited nearly a year before our marriage was completely consummated. It wasn't until I saw his absolute devotion to me that I fully realised that he did in fact love me, and I loved him just as much.

"About a year and a half into our marriage I found out I was pregnant. We were so happy, Tyran especially. Little did we know that a month later our lives would change forever. Qetesh came and ruined everything."

At the memories going through her mind, Vala started to cry again. Daniel drew her close to his body to comfort her. "Shh, it's okay, you don't have to continue."

Vala pulled back slightly, "Yes, I do. I have to make sure he's always remembered," she sniffed in reply.

Still lying comfortably in Daniel's arms, Vala went on with her story slowly so as not to forget any details.

"When Qetesh came we knew she was looking for a new host because she sent her First Prime to round up all the women of our village and bring them to the town square. Tyran knew what was happening so he sent me up to the caves to hide. Adria sold us out though, she had me followed, because not long after I got there three Jaffa came right to where I was and brought me back down to the village.

"Qetesh came down and decided she liked my 'spunk' so she chose me out of all the other women. Tyran tried so hard to stop them from taking me. He was beaten for his efforts. Qetesh brought me back to her ship and me being true to form, I was being uncooperative. As punishment, she kill…killed my baby with her ribbon device. That only made me angrier and she had trouble controlling me when she was implanted. To punish me even more, she had Tyran sent up and I had to watch as she killed him with my own hands." Pausing, Vala let her tears pour out. "I don't ever want to go through that again Daniel."

Daniel held her tighter so as to reassure her, "I promise you nothing like that will ever happen. Not while I'm around."

"Thank you."

"Are all your stories that horrible, Vala?"

Vala smiled and shook her head, "No, some are quite amusing, but they were all done out of desperation or in a need of a solution to a problem. I always had to fit in wherever I went. Like I said, one marriage was done out of love and it took me too long to realise it."

"You're a survivor, that's all I can say Vala. You continue to amaze me."

Blushing, she smiled, "Can we do this again tomorrow?"

"Sure, but you're paying," Daniel replied as he got up off the couch, pulled Vala with him and directed her to the bedroom.

"That's fine, but where are you taking me now?"

"Now, we're going to bed and sleeping, tomorrow is up to you."

Vala just grinned as Daniel flicked off the light behind them.

TBC

_If anyone has any ideas of what they want to see please let me know._

_Thanks to Becca for the lovely beta as usual._


	4. AN

Authors Note to my faithful readers,

Sorry this isn't an update, I am just here to let you know that all my WiP Fictions are all on Hiatus until my muse comes back and I suddenly have a holiday from work; neither of which I see happening any time soon. Sorry to disappoint. If you have any suggestions as to how these fics should go, feel free to drop me a line any time. I will respond to you

Thanks again

Sam


End file.
